"God Pause Daily Devotional" The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Monday, 30 May 2016 With Scripture 1 Kings 17:17-24

"God Pause Daily Devotional" The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Monday, 30 May 2016 With Scripture 1 Kings 17:17-24
1 Kings 17:17 A while later, the son of the woman whose house it was fell ill; his illness grew increasingly serious until his breathing stopped. 18 She said to Eliyahu, “What do you have against me, you man of God? Did you come to me just to remind me how sinful I am by killing my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” he said to her. Taking him from her lap, he carried him into the room upstairs where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to Adonai: “Adonai my God! Have you brought also this misery on the widow I’m staying with by killing her son?” 21 He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to Adonai: “Adonai my God, please! Let this child’s soul come back into him!” 22 Adonai heard Eliyahu’s cry, the child’s soul came back into him, and he revived. 23 Eliyahu took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Eliyahu said, “See? Your son is alive.” 24 The woman replied to Eliyahu, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of Adonai that you speak is the truth.”[Complete Jewish Bible]
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It's not the time or place, but I would love to have a theological argument with Elijah. When you are standing over a deathbed with weeping coming from the other room, it is not the moment to quibble over theology. Still, I question Elijah's accusation of God: "O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?" Elijah implies, "Yes;" I would argue, "No." God is not in the calamity business; rather, God is present precisely in the midst of suffering. Perhaps Elijah's perception is skewed by his anger with God over this situation. Yet even if I disagree with his theology, Elijah still communicates the presence of God in that upper chamber. See how he stretches himself over the dead child while crying out to God? In that very moment I see our God in flesh and in tears.
Weeping God, when we gather bedside or graveside, you are present amid our pain and tears. Only by your tender presence are we led out from suffering's shadow into the light of your eternal joy. And there--with you--our mourning is no more. Amen.
Justin Lind-Ayres
Augsburg College Campus Ministry, Minneapolis
Master of Divinity, 2003
1 Kings 17:17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18 She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!"
19 But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed.
20 He cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?"
21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again."
22 The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive."
24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."[New Revised Standard Version]
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